$24.5 million construction project scheduled for completion in summer 2014

Between serving fried-chicken dinners and cheese-steak sandwiches, chef Melvin Worthen has watched one of Central Florida's biggest road projects take shape outside his restaurant in Casselberry.

And the cook at Leonie's, a home-style eatery near the intersection of State Road 436, Red Bug Lake Road and Winter Park Drive, is dismayed by what he sees.

"It's ugly. It's gridlocked," said Worthen. "I wish it could be over soon. It's been a nightmare."

For more than 11/2 years, commuters and business owners have endured noise, tie-ups and confusing lane shifts as crews work to ease the flow of traffic at one of the region's busiest intersections.

Ashley Parker, a student studying physical therapy at Herzing University in Winter Park, said traffic is at its worst in the morning. Parker, 27, said making it to class from her home in Apopka takes an hour and 20 minutes. The construction, she said, adds about 30 minutes.

"We understand construction is difficult," said Megan Olivera, a spokesperson for the $24.5 million project. "The ending is near."

Set for completion in June 2014 after a six-month delay, the work has crews widening parts of Red Bug, S.R. 436 and Winter Park Drive and building a two-lane "flyover" bridge that will allow motorists traveling south on 436 to turn left onto Red Bug without waiting for a light.

Started in October 2011, the project was conceived almost a decade ago as population grew in Oviedo, Winter Springs and other parts of east Seminole County.

The flyover is intended to relieve congestion at the intersection usually used by more than 85,000 motorists a day, said Mark Bevis of Seminole's public works department. That number has dropped to about 75,000 a day because some motorists are avoiding the construction area, he said.

The flyover also will make the intersection safer, Olivera said. Reducing the number of vehicles that must pass through the light lowers the risk of accidents, she said. There have been 127 accidents near the intersection since 2011, according to Seminole County officials. Casselberry police said there have been two fatal wrecks there since 2009.

For commuters and business owners, the end can't come soon enough.

J.R. Nieves, of Winter Park, said he has had a "first-person view" of construction since moving to the area about a year and a half ago. A student studying business management at City College in Altamonte Springs, Nieves passed through the intersection at least three times a week on his way to school.

"I have no idea how to avoid it," Nieves said. "If I could find a back road, I would love to take it."

But Sandra Mobijohn can't avoid it. She owns Kani Beauty Salon in the Pinebay Plaza. Outside her shop is the half-built flyover.

Mobijohn, who opened the salon a year before the work started, said construction has crimped her business. New customers "don't want to be bothered" by the congestion and the maze of orange traffic barrels that extend more than half a mile in all directions.

She has been offering free haircuts to new customers to build business, and that may last until the work is completed, she said.